Alberto Contador handed two-year drugs ban

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has banned Alberto Contador for two years for doping.

He has been stripped of his 2010 Tour de France victory and, with his suspension running until 5 August, will miss this year's Tour and the Olympics.

Analysis

Matt SlaterSports news reporter

A reputation in the balance, a wronged rival, political interference, legal wrangling and the honour of thousands of Spanish farmers at stake, so to speak: this tale had it all. Now, 18 months later, we have an answer. Contador had a performance-enhancing drug in his system and cannot explain why. Records will be rewritten, jerseys will change hands, but the debate about the man, cycling and sport's fight against cheats will continue with renewed intensity.

January 2011:
President of Spanish Cycling Federation recommends one-year ban

January 2011:
Contador tells media he will quit if he loses his appeal

February 2011:
Spanish Prime Minister tweets his support for Contador; Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) clears him

March 2011:
World governing body UCI and World Anti-Doping Agency appeals RFEC decision to Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas)

May 2011:
Contador wins Giro d'Italia for the second time

November 2011:
Contador gives evidence at hearing

February 2012:
Cas bans Contador for two years

Since Contador served five months and 19 days of a provisional suspension in 2010-11, his ban will run until 5 August this year rather than 25 January 2013.

The verdict was handed down by a three-man jury consisting of Israeli Efraim Barack, Quentin Byrne-Sutton of Switzerland and German Ulrich Haas.

A statement from Cas read: "The panel found that there were no established facts that would elevate the possibility of meat contamination to an event that could have occurred on a balance of probabilities.

"In the panel's opinion, on the basis of the evidence adduced, the presence of clenbuterol was more likely caused by the ingestion of a contaminated food supplement."

UCI president Pat McQuaid said: "This is a sad day for our sport. Some may think of it as a victory, but that is not at all the case."There are no winners when it comes to the issue of doping: every case, irrespective of its characteristics, is always a case too many."

REFC president Juan Carlos Castano said: "It's very bad news for Spanish sport. For us this journey has ended."

And British cyclist Mark Cavendish - the winner of the green jersey for top sprinter in the 2011 Tour de France - added on Twitter: "Regardless of the outcome for Contador, I just wish, for the sake of our sport & everyone in it, that a decision had been made sooner.

Analysis

Tom BurridgeBBC News, Madrid

'Unjust, excessive and difficult to understand' is one of the headlines on the website of the Spanish Newspaper El Pais. It sums up the general mood in the Spanish media.

And in the Barcelona-based La Vanguardia, they quote Perico Delgado, who won the Tour in 1988 as saying that 'they (the International Cycling Federation) are losing their focus in the fight against doping.'

A winner of the Tour in 2007 and 2009, he becomes only the second cyclist to lose his title for doping, after American Floyd Landis tested positive for testosterone in 2006.

BBC links

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